


Lover, Please Stay

by cardiac_arrest



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Hostage Situations, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-15 18:56:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18675523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cardiac_arrest/pseuds/cardiac_arrest
Summary: "Dance with me,” Mitch smiled as he set his phone down.Auston groaned as he got up, looking at Mitch’s incomprehensible dance moves in dismay.“It’s times like these when I wonder why I couldn’t have gotten a ‘Jake’ instead,” Auston mumbled under his breath, taking a stride towards Mitch.“Hey,” Mitch protested.





	Lover, Please Stay

**Author's Note:**

> there is a hostage situation in this fic (bank robbery) so please be careful. there's a lot of descriptions of fear and guns, so if thats traumatic please be aware. i put graphic descriptions of violence just in case, but i don't think it's very graphic. :(
> 
> originally i got a prompt on tumblr for "dance with me". and then it turned into this based on a prev idea i had. i dont think this style of fic is what the anon meant lol.

Auston takes a deep breath in and exhales out silently. The fear amalgamating within the room is suffocating, it takes almost all his energy to keep calm. It hadn’t taken much time for the significance of the extent of the situation to settle within everyone’s minds when the bank was compromised. There’s been a shift in his normal. What was it like when the sound of terrified sobbing wasn’t constantly streaming through his ears? Auston can’t remember.

 

Other sounds bounce around in his mind, the resounding bang of the warning shots fired into the ceiling holding strong. The ringing distracts him so.

 

It’s hard to focus on his thoughts when the pump of adrenaline courses pressingly strong through his veins. His hands are shaking from their positions on the back of his head. His knees hurt, bare skin on the cold marble of the ground.

 

He hears the demands from the robbers being barked out in a vicious tone. They threaten the tellers with vehemence, utterly evil and imposing in the mismatched black of their outfits.

 

“Give me the fucking money!” one of them screams at the lady sitting behind the main counter.

 

She’s crying, crouched away from the man and his gun. Her entire body is visibly shaking. She sobs. “I don’t have any more.”

 

“What? Is that all you have?” the man guffaws maliciously in a taunt, pulling back the slide of his gun and flipping the safety off.

 

She screams from fear; it’s tangible, Auston can feel it ten metres away. He shivers unconsciously.

 

The man points the gun closer to her, “give me a fucking answer!”

 

“I don’t know,” she cries out, hugging herself tighter and shielding her head.

 

The man sneers, firing a bullet into the side of the counter and drawing various gasps and screams from all the other clients and clerks in the bank. “Who knows where all the other cash is?”

 

There’s no sound, except the wailing of a boy. Auston looks around, mindful of the other men keeping the perimeter secured. It isn’t long before he locates the boy, only five or six-years-old , kneeling alone on the ground with a stuffed bunny. He isn’t far away, only a few feet or so. Auston bites his lip, unhappy with the terror the child is subjected to.

 

He hears the curse of one of the robbers, directed towards the boy. The bawling grows louder, full of sharp dissonant sounds. There’s irritation upon the men’s faces. Auston can see it in their body language.

 

Auston looks in the boy’s direction and feels decimated from the despair on his face. He decides to do something about it despite the pounding fear in his chest. He slides closer to the kid, hoping no one sees him. A quick boot to his back knocks him down heavily, all the breath struck from his lungs.

 

He hears the cock of a gun and tenses.

 

“What the fuck are you doing?” a voice atop of him sneers.

 

Auston grits his teeth, and thinks of Mitch.

 

***

 

_“Dude,” Mitch said, lounging on the couch in one of his better outfits._

 

_Auston turned around with a smile, running a hand through his hair with some gel. “What?”_

 

_“Can we just, like, not go?” Mitch asked, rolling on his back so Auston only saw his face upside down._

 

_“What, you mean the date?” Auston adjusted his shirt, pulling it across his shoulders evenly. He walked towards Mitch, settling down heavily on the spot beside him._

 

 _“Yeah,” Mitch whined, flopping into Auston’s lap instead. “I’m so_ tired.”

 

_Auston grinned and knocked the red bull hat from Mitch’s head, throwing it to a random corner of their living room. There was a squawk from Mitch that was quickly silenced as Auston stroked his hair reverently._

 

_“You sure you don’t want to go to that fancy, new restaurant?”_

 

_Mitch turned to face Auston and pouted. There was a snort from Auston as he bent down and pecked Mitch on the lips._

 

_“Fine then,” Auston said, pinching Mitch on the cheeks._

 

_“Ow,” Mitch mumbled, smacking away Auston’s hand. “You hurt me. Make it up to me, asshole.”_

 

_Auston smiled silently as he kept carding through Mitch’s short hair. “Yeah? What do you want?”_

 

_Mitch closed his eyes and hummed, reaching up to give Auston’s cheek a few pats. It took a few seconds before his eyes burst open again, surprising Auston a little. He stared into the vivid blue for a while before Mitch had enough of it and turned his head away shyly._

 

_Mitch jumped up from Auston’s lap suddenly, grabbing his phone on the way up. Auston stared at him in blank confusion as Mitch tapped for a slow song to play._

 

_“Dance with me,” he smiled as he set his phone down._

 

_Auston groaned as he got up, looking at Mitch’s incomprehensible dance moves in dismay._

 

_“It’s times like these when I wonder why I couldn’t have gotten a ‘Jake’ instead,” Auston mumbled under his breath, taking a stride towards Mitch._

 

_“Hey,” Mitch protested._

 

_Auston wasn’t sure what he was referring to. He had clutched one of Mitch’s wrists and pulled him towards his chest._

 

_“Isn’t this so much better?” Mitch asked. Auston smiled as he held Mitch loosely, swaying side to side in rhythm to the gentle melody of the music._

 

_Mitch settled his head on Auston’s shoulder and wrapped his arms tighter around his torso, humming contentedly._

 

_Auston closed his eyes, savouring the moment. “Yeah.”_

 

***

 

Auston breathes as much as he can with his face pressed into the cold ground. He can see the boy whimpering in his peripheral vision, tear tracks running viciously. The fear still tugs at his heart, his constant worry of not making it back to Mitch throbbing painfully.

 

“Just let me help that boy,” he spits out, trying to eye the man currently pinning him down. He knows there’s a loaded gun in his hands, so he doesn’t try anything funny to get himself shot.

 

“Why should I let you do that?” the man scoffs. His voice is so high-pitched; it grates at Auston’s eardrums.

 

“Look, if he doesn’t cry, then you guys won’t have shit to worry about either. He’s just a kid.”

 

Auston would love to show the man what he’s made of, drag him through the dirt a little.

 

The pressure on his back lightens. The man laughs mockingly at him. “Go ahead then. Don’t try anything stupid. I’d hate to traumatise the ‘kid’.”

 

Auston resists the urge to roll his eyes directly at the man and shoulders himself free. He tries not to mumble under his breath as he shuffles silently towards the boy, currently huddled close to a wall.

 

Auston can see that he’s scared shitless, tears welling up disastrously in those wide eyes. The bunny is clenched so hard in his hands that his knuckles are white. Auston moves closer. The boy whimpers and cowers away, screwing his eyes shut tightly.

 

“Hey,” Auston whispers with a smile, staying a feet away from the boy. The boy opens one eye, still sitting in a tight ball. “What’s your name? I’m Auston.”

 

The whimpering stops and both the boy’s eyes open. “Auston? Like Auston Matthews?”

 

“Yeah,” Auston smiles. “That’s a cool bunny you got there.”

 

“His name is Mitch,” the boy utters, examining the gray, felt rabbit with wide eyes. “Like Mitch Marner.”

 

“Mitch Marner, huh?” Auston repeats with a gentle tone. “Is he your favourite hockey player?”

 

“Uh huh,” the boy nods, eyes expressing his sad awe.

 

“He’s my favourite hockey player too.” Auston shuffles a little closer. “Do you want to stay with me?”

 

The boy nods again, reaching a hand out. Auston’s heart clenches a little more, and grasps his hand firmly but delicately. It’s so small, Auston notes. His mind wanders a little to how Mitch would react to this little boy with a stuffed bunny named Mitch. He’d be ecstatic.

 

“I’m Alex,” the boy mumbles, syllables tripping over each other.

 

Auston smiles. “Nice to meet you Alex.” The boy, Alex, smiles back nervously. He’s still scared, but much less now. Auston tucks a strand of brown hair behind his ear and corrals him close, shielding him from the criminals.

 

“Is your mom here, Alex?” Auston asks, looking down.

 

He shakes his head and hugs his bunny closer.

 

“Do you know where she is?”

 

He shakes his head again. He threatens to tear up again.

 

“Hey,” Auston whispers. “We’ll find her, okay?”

 

Alex looks up at him. “Do you promise?”

 

Auston breaks a little. “I’ll try my best.”

 

Alex’s feeble “okay” is drowned out by the shouts of the men dressed in all black.

 

“Why did you fucking do that?” the leader shouts at another teller sitting behind the front desk. “Why did you press the fucking button?”

 

 _Shit,_ Auston thinks. Things don’t typically end well like this.

 

“Well, now we gotta fucking look for an actual hostage, don’t we?” the same man announces loudly.

 

The teller sobs. “Please don’t take me, I have children at home.”

 

The man sneers, not letting up his gun, “would you rather a pregnant woman go?”

 

The teller is still sobbing. The leader scoffs.

 

Auston looks at Alex, whose eyes are wide open with fear. He looks at the bunny and thinks of Mitch.

 

***

 

_“Smile,” Auston said, sticking his phone in Mitch’s face. Mitch reacted ridiculously, holding out two peace signs instead._

 

_Auston laughed and Mitch focused just enough to join Auston. “You’re so dumb.”_

 

_“Yeah,” Mitch smiled. “But so are you.”_

 

_Auston looked around, making sure none of the other patrons were looking at them. He turned his phone off, stopping the recording, and grabbed Mitch’s hand. He pressed a quick kiss to it before throwing it back under the table like nothing had happened._

 

_Mitch beamed at him. “What was that for?”_

 

_Auston shrugged. He had felt such a strong surge of love that had overwhelmed him. He couldn’t just sit there and do nothing._

 

_“You know I love you right?” Auston said, staring at Mitch playing around with the salt shaker._

 

_Mitch rolled his eyes, still messing around with the cap of the shaker. “Yes, Auston. And I love you. If you didn’t know that already.”_

 

_Auston smiled. “When the commercial goes out, I hope people see how much we love each other.”_

 

_Mitch’s face softened. “Yeah. I don’t think they’ll be able to mistake it.”_

 

_Auston wanted to hold Mitch’s hand. Right out there in the public._

 

_He’s distracted from the thought when the salt spills from the shaker. Auston facepalmed, not really surprised at how Mitch managed to do that._

 

_“Whoops?” Mitch smiled. Auston only sighed. It was endearing._

 

***

 

 _Fuck,_ Auston thinks. He wants to be with Mitch.

 

He hopes Mitch understands why he has to do it.

 

“Alex?” Auston asks.

 

The boy looks at him.

 

“Do you see that lady over there?”

 

Alex turns his head in the direction Auston is pointing in.

 

“Yes,” he says quietly, clutching his rabbit.

 

“I’m going to go to the bad guy, okay?” Auston says carefully. “But we’re going to go to that lady first and you’ll stay with her. Is that okay?”

 

Alex looks at Auston in fear. “What?”

 

“Someone needs to go to the bad guys, right? I don’t want it to be anyone else in here that has to go.”

 

“But… we’re going to find my mommy together,” Alex says, staring at Auston with wide, trembling eyes.

 

“We will,” Auston says. “But first, we have to make sure no one else gets hurt, right?”

 

Alex nods slowly, but still a little unsure of what Auston is trying to do or what he means.

 

“Here, come on,” Auston urges. “We don’t have much time.”

 

They shuffle along the wall to the lady dressed in pink without much trouble. All the robbers are focused on shouting at the teller who had set off the emergency alarm that had alerted the police. The look Auston had received when the lady had recognized him was full of respect. It had turned into wary reverence when Auston had explained to her what he wanted to do.

 

He leaves Alex with a hug and a pat to the head.

 

“You’ll be alright, okay?” Auston smiles, heart beating rapidly in his chest.

 

“Don’t go,” Alex says, clutching at him tightly. His arms are wrapped around Auston like a vice, face screwed tightly in sadness and fear.

 

“I’ll be okay, Alex,” Auston says. “I’ll introduce you to Mitch someday.”

 

The boy looks up at him with teary eyes. He sniffles and stares at him in unhappy surrender.

 

“Here,” he says. “Take Mitchy.” Alex offers the rabbit to him with an honest expression.

 

“Are you sure?” Auston asks. He feels tears prickling behind his own eyes.

 

“Yeah, he helps me when I’m scared. Maybe he’ll help you too.”

 

Auston smiles at Alex again, taking Mitch the rabbit from him and squeezing him one more time. “Thank you, Alex. I’ll see you soon.”

 

“Hey! Assholes!” Auston shouts as he moves away from Alex and the lady.

 

There are five guns trained on him within seconds. “What do you want?” the leader snarls.

 

Auston gulps down his fear as he sticks Mitch the rabbit in the back pocket of his jeans and raises his hands in the air. “I’ll be your fucking hostage, okay? Don’t hurt anyone else.”

 

The leader laughs, nodding to his other commandants. “Did you hear that? Take Mister Selfless, boys.”

 

It takes only a few seconds for them to wrestle him into a corner, where two men have guns trained on him steadily.

 

“Alright then,” the leader says.

 

Auston exhales, looking down at his lap with his hands on the back of his head. He looks in Alex’s direction and meets his eyes. He tries to give him a reassuring smile, but from the way Alex is crying silently again, he doesn’t think it helped. He thinks about Mitch the bunny in his back pocket and holds on to hope.

 

It doesn’t take long for some random guy to try to take down the men with his bare hands. Auston swears in his head. A strong sense of dread grows inside his chest. Things have gone south.

  
_I love you Mitch,_ Auston thinks when he hears the shots ring out.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you guys for reading! yall know the gist, steve dangle outro with the comments and likes and tell your friends thing. come yell with me on tumblr @mitcheemarns.


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